Handing in a line, fplafliing in the water with long flicks,-firft for-
Totne time on one fide, and then .all fluffing to fplalh on the other.
Thus this hoftile array turned out to be a few peaceable filher-
irfen : peaceable indeed ; for on the approach o f the veflel they funk,
their canoes upon the flat, and retreated to,the .ifland,. where-they
made their fires.
The flood .fide having ceafed to run, they anchored -at noon, and
by the fun’s meridional altitude, in 2 7 ° . 2.7' 16/ fouth latitude.
The third ifland, on which the natives^ were, bore \V. 4° S.. one
and a half or two miles diftant, and.the centers o f the two. northern
ones N. 40° ;and N. 15% W. The entrance, from Moreton Bay
bearing N. 68” E. from this anchorage, corroborated its latitude
by the obfervation of the 14th, which was taken on the flea fide of
it although-it differed copfiderably from that given by Captain
Cook. This difference may perhaps be thus accounted for. That
great navigator.finding* by the meridional obfervation taken on the
day following the evening von which he paffed this part of thecoaft,
that a northerly current had prevailed in the daft twenty-four hours,,
probablyfallowed a proportional part of it, to cor reft-the fituation
o f Point lookout, as given ,by the lo g ; whereas in reality;;the
northerly current might, have commenced only at the time that he
opened the Moreton Bay entrance, and became expofed . to the
outfetfrom .it. And it was by no means improbable, that,dnffead of
a northerly, he might have had a foutherly .fet, from; the previous;
noon, when the latitude was 27° 46' to the; time when he opened
the entrance; in.the fame manner.as it had prevailed-the day-before;
when the obfervation was 17 ' iouth. of the log.
From the. fituatrom of the -floop at this anchorage, Glafl-Houfe
Bay feemed to be, doled round, except at one.fmall qpening .which
bore S. 27°- E. To turn up this opening, they gpt under fail,,4s
foon as the ebb tide flacked. On Handing near the fouth part o f the
f h o a l ^bat appeared to furround the,ifland to which the natives had
retired, one of them came down abreaft of the floop, making the
fame
fame geftures, and running backwards and forwards, as others had
done before 4 but little attention was paid to him, Mr. Flinders being
more intent on getting as far up the bay as poflible while the tide favoured
him. A little before midnight he was obliged to anchor,
finding that the deep water had contracted into a narrow channel.
On the following day Mr. Flinders landed upon an ifland that
lay in his paffage, ’with inftruments for taking angles, and obferv-
ing the latitude. Footfteps of dogs, and thofe recent, were numerous
upon the beach ; but traces of men were fcarcely vifible: there
were, however, feveral fire-places, and many other marks o f the
ifland having lately been vifited. This ifland was two or three
miles in circumference. The central part was higher than the
Hurts, and was covered with a coat of fine vegetable mould o f a
reddilh colour. On the S. E. fide of the ifland this elevated part
defeended fuddenly in a fteep bank, where the earth was as red as
blood ; and, being clayey, fome portions o f it were nearly hardened
into rock. The trees upon it, among which was the new pine, were
large and luxuriant. The exterior part o f the ifland upon the weft
fide was a flat, over which the tide feemed to rife, and was abundantly
covered with large mangrove trees. On the S. W. and
N. E. fides it was moftly low and faady, and here the palni nut tree
was produced. Probably thefe nuts formed the principal inducement
for the natives to vifit this ifland; and there was abundant
teftimony under the trees that they were not fuffered to fall off and
rot. They met with fome boughs fo ranged as to keep off the
foutherly winds; and from the fire-places which they were placed
to defend, it was inferred that not lefs than five or fix natives had
made this their place o f refidence, probably a temporary one only,
as they did not meet with any huts regularly conftrufted.
The black and the white cockatoo, the beautiful lilac-headed par-
roquet, and the bald-headed mocking bird of Port Jackfon, were feen
here ; but there were not any marks ofrefident quadrupeds, rats excepted.
VOL. II. 11 The